Religious justifications for donating body parts

Hastings Cent Rep. 1985 Feb;15(1):38-42.

Abstract

KIE: May discusses religious justifications for organ donation as alternatives to marketplace purchase, voluntary donation, and routine salvaging. He responds to Feinberg's proposal for a national system of salvaging and his criticism of the tendency to invest a dead body with symbolism that hampers organ donation. After exploring the implications for transplantation of the Christian Scientist, dualist, and Gnostic outlooks, May considers aspects of the Judeo-Christian tradition that influence attitudes toward organ donation and transplantation. He calls upon religious institutions to assume a leadership role in arousing conscience and in encouraging organized giving of organs.

MeSH terms

  • Attitude to Death
  • Ethical Theory
  • Humans
  • Informed Consent
  • Mandatory Programs
  • Moral Obligations
  • Personhood
  • Religion and Medicine*
  • Tissue Donors*
  • Tissue and Organ Procurement*
  • Voluntary Programs